Grim Trails Review (2026)

As my car rolled along the roads through Tom Sawyer Park, it didn’t take me long to find Grim Trails. They placed a banner next to the last road I had to turn on, and both the parking lot and the entrance were brightly lit up ahead. Parking was free, and the lot was right across from the entrance. A short walk down a fenced-in trail built atmosphere from the get go, with lanterns- and banners depicting unearthly creatures- hanging from above, as well as audio playing in the background. I eventually reached a clearing with an impressive, brightly-lit Grim Trails sign. The ticket booth was impossible to miss, and all prices were displayed clearly. General Admission was $30, with a couple of quicker options available. The queues for each ticket type were clearly marked, save for Front of the Line, which probably involved having someone collect those guests and bring them up front.

Scaring and interacting with groups, a tall, imposing Scarecrow stalked around the property. Music played while people waited in line, and the queue was covered in spooky lighting. An animatronic was positioned to provide further entertainment, and I noticed that the staff responsible for taking tickets and organizing groups were all costumed and at least partially in-character. Before any of us entered the trail, we were taken into a building and treated to a preshow that explained a bit of the story of the Morrigan, and how horrors befell the land the trail winds through. (Don’t drop your guard – you may get a little more than just some backstory in here!) Then we were all sent to queue up in what resembled a greenhouse outside.

Planning a visit? I can vouch that the Grim Trails website had just about anything a prospective customer would want or need to know. They also included some photos and video from their haunt – always a plus!

Like I mentioned under the Guest Experience category, Grim pulls you into their experience from the moment you exit your car and begin walking down the path to the haunt. This immersion continues for much of the walkthrough. Grim Trails is heavily based on famous fictional stories and legends, but they also threw in some general scary creatures to further terrorize visitors: zombies in a graveyard, an underground lair filled with massive spiders and dragons (yes, dragons!), and more.

While exploring the trail, I kept my eyes peeled for anything that might break a customer’s immersion as they’re passing through, and I really didn’t see much. Small things, like actors’ shoes matching their costumes, were on point, and there was no trash, water bottles, or personal items of any sort left out in the open. Lights and speakers were concealed well.

Once I got out, the trail exited right towards the haunt’s gift shop, where they had an array of awesome merch for sale, including some new spooky stained glass pieces and two detailed magnets. Towards the back was a large photo op, and Paradise Island Tea had tasty drinks for sale.

Grim didn’t skimp in this area at all – loads of special effects were used to make their show come alive. A soundtrack played for most of the trail, tailored to each scene, and while it was definitely loud enough to notice, it never bled into other scenes or drowned out the actors. Some scenes were heavier on the detail and props than others were, but when they were decked out, they were *decked out*! I was particularly impressed with a lengthy indoor portion of the haunt, which consisted of several different scenes: plague doctors, what seemed to be wendigos, an incredible laser swamp, dolls, etc. (Anyone who knows me knows I don’t do dolls. They threw at least three- that I can remember- of those big ass human-sized dolls in there! I wanted to break a wall down to get out.)

Fog, a waterfall, beautiful lighting, scents, and other sensory effects were included throughout the trail. My personal favorite effect was one I don’t want to completely spoil, but it might’ve involved a popular Disney villain and a really clever use of fog and either an actor-matronic or animatronic. Let’s just say once I heard that loud roar, I didn’t stick around for much longer!

To say this forest of frightful fairytales was well-populated would be an understatement! Monsters and threats seemed to lurk around every corner; when I thought I was alone, I soon found that I often wasn’t. Right off the bat, I narrowly avoided becoming a meal for what appeared to be vampires, lurking within the shadows of a castle. (Whoever the tall male actor was wearing a cloak, they scared the crap out of me. Came out of nowhere!) I couldn’t be sure what sort of madness was going on in Wendy’s house – all I know is that Peter Pan was threatening me, Wendy was climbing the walls (?!), and Peter’s very own shadow chased me right out the back door and down the path! Yikes! Cautiously approaching a massive pirate ship, I could hear Captain Hook singing nearby. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to slip past him… he immediately ordered me to halt and held me up with his cutlass! Thankfully, I convinced him to let me go.

About midway through, I stumbled into Wonderland. I can’t be sure if I ever saw Alice, but Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum saw *me*, and between that pair and the Mad Hatter, I have no idea how I made it out alive! Those twins were especially vicious. Greeting me outside and leading me into the witch’s house, Gretel tried to get me to bake some cookies with her… too bad the “secret ingredient” was the ashes of her brother, Hansel. A handful of zombies and ghouls had me weaving around headstones in the graveyard as they gave chase, and I lost count of how many random creatures were lurking within the trees, just waiting to strike. One spot on the trail allowed *three* of them to gang up on me at once!

For the most part, the acting I saw lined up well with each character and they had a lot of great talent out there. Those who didn’t speak made convincing snorts, snarls, growls, and screams. And the haunt spared no expense in ripping guests’ favorite characters and legends from their storybooks, only to twist them into nightmares before our very eyes. The costumes and masks used were excellent, and while the level of detail with makeup varied, everyone still looked great.

The stories we grew up with as children were often meant to be entertaining, comforting, or teach life lessons. But at Grim Trails, the only “lesson” I was taught was that I made a REALLY BIG mistake deciding to walk through those woods that night – especially by myself! Actors were all over the place, and most of them seemed to know the precise moment to make an appearance and scare the sh*t out of me. To give you an idea: I tend to talk to myself when I fly solo at haunts. Partly as a nervous habit, and partly to let actors know someone is approaching. Almost every time I opened my mouth to make some dumb comment, I’d get interrupted mid-comment by some unearthly thing screeching or snarling at me out of nowhere. I honestly don’t think a full group would fare much better than I did with them!

Oh… and you definitely aren’t safe just because actors aren’t around. Grim has included plenty of animatronic beasties, witches, and other threats in their show, as well as some special effects meant to disorient you and drop your guard. These guys are masters of the distraction scare, and if the animatronic itself doesn’t get you, it might just be setting you up for that monster you haven’t seen yet…

(Shout out to the one who was operating a puppet – I won’t spoil your scare because it was *so* good, but you weren’t content with just getting the scream and actually chased me a few feet! I loved that!)

If you can believe it, I still managed to finagle a “happy” ending out of this scarytale, fleeing from the woods in about 24 minutes. Grim charges $30.00 for General Admission, which gives them an MPD (Minutes Per Dollar) score of 0.80, not too far below the full minute we typically seek in a haunt. Between that, the quality of the haunt itself, and the frequent scares, I felt the ticket price was fair for the experience. There were some extras included in the ticket price, too, like line entertainment, a preshow, and a nice photo op at the end.

Grim Trails doesn’t just bring the scares – they put a delightfully wicked spin on the fairytale characters many of us grew up with and loved. Tired of the usual clowns, movie monsters, and chainsaw chases? Come pay a visit to this haunted trail and write your own chapter in their sinister story.